Choir’s activities "Music is not a privilege for few, but a treasure to be shared"

(Zoltán Kodály)


The main aim of choral activities is to open the doors of high quality music to people through singing in choir, which spurs an active approach to music and allows a global education since the main instrument used is available to anyone. Our voice is the most natural and accessible musical instrument, which makes us live the musical experience creatively. Through voice, the individual socializes with others; singing then favours socialization and stimulates perceptive abilities as well as mutual understanding.

"Singing in choir educates to respect, humbleness, perseverance and love for the community we live in. [...] If we find a way to disseminate such belief, in the next thirty years the reins of the world could be passed on to people who experienced singing in choir and reaped its full potential and benefit!"

(from Validità del Canto corale, Roberto Goitre).



Didactics



–  Preliminary music courses for very young learners (5-7 years old);
–  Preliminary music courses for adults;
–  Individual training courses for all singers in the three Choirs.


Apart from the music course organised by the Choir, when important concerts are approaching, singers are called to take participate in extra lessons: in sections (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), small groups, generally for a maximum of 16/20 hours a week. Individual singing lessons are given to singers for a maximum of 20/24 hours a month.

Each year, at the end of August, the Children’s Choir leaves Piacenza for Etroubles (in Aosta Valley) for a choral camp to prepare the group to the upcoming singing year. This campus consists of singing lessons and choral rehearsals for 8 hours a day, and it is conceived especially for those who have just joined the choir, who can plunge into its activity and tighten the bond with their new companions. Even the Youth Choir and the Mixed Choir, when it comes to face important concerts, concentrate their efforts in a training weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in suitable premises.

Each year the Farnesiano Choir organises concerts for charity, to help associations in need.

Some of these concerts are renewed year by year, such as the events for Piacenza prison, "Vittorio Veneto" rest home, Psychiatric Hospital, Amnesty International, etc.

Here is a short list of the most recent charity concerts from the Farnesiano Choir:

–  1999 Charity concert for Kosovo;
–  2000 Charity concert for Bosnia;
–  2001 Concert: "Un coro per la pace";
–  2005 Charity concert to help the population of the South-East Asia after the tsunami;
–  2007 Charity concert for Emergency
–  2008 Charity concert in support of the "Casa del Fanciullo Padre Gherardo"
–  2009 Charity concert in support of the A. V.O. (Hospital Association of Volunteers) of Piacenza
–  2009 Charity concert in support of the Emergency


The Choir also supports schools initiatives by organizing choral didactic concerts to show the methodology used by the Choir itself.